Realtor's Apocalyptic Evening at Belmont Hills Pool

Described here:  July 26 Philly Storm invades NYC,  photo by Orangeadan@ Flickr

 Was swimming in the Belmont Hills Pool at 7:25pm last night (Thu July 26), when lifeguards abruptly told everyone to get out due to thunder... I wasn't alone in my dismay. Didn't hear any thunder and though the sky was overcast, it didn't have any of the usual threatening tones indicating a storm closer than an hour or so away.

I Assumed the Guards had a party or something and wanted to shut down early, but what are you gonna do but get out and take a shower? I will never doubt the LM Swim Authorities again and ashamed to say I did. Because when I emerged from the changing room ten minutes later, the sky was a roiling, boiling, growl of black bulbous Mushroom clouds like I have never around here - CGI-style, cinematic jumbled with apocalyptic are the best terms I can find to describe.



Above BH Roller-Rink 7/27/12 730pm

In the minute it took to reach the safety of my car and retrieved my cell phone for photographs, the most terrifying, plague-like buboe clouds had unfortunately been blown Eastward with alarming velocity. The pictures I snapped don't capture bowel-loosening drama of the storm's leading edge but it was every bit as irritated and ominous as the image above. While the wind and rain that followed moments later was intense, the storm itself was pedestrian and common compared to the unprecedented rapidity and sudden-drama with which it emerged. Driving around the next half-hour, steering around the usual fallen limbs that accompany our summer storms, the talk-show hosts and weather folks on 1210 and KYW echoed and confirmed my impression that this storm packed a dark speed seldom seen in our area.

Fortunately, the radio-talkers also confirmed that unlike Elmira, NY earlier in the day, tornadoes and their extreme destruction were not part of the package -- this time. Sudden, heat-included, violent storms of this nature are known as "Derechoes". Scientist indicate one derecho every 2-4 years is a historical average for the Delaware Valley. We've now had 2 in two weeks. Kind of scary, but when it comes to likely climate-change-induced extreme weather, all-in-all I'd rather be in Philadelphia where our extremes are milder than much the rest of the nation.